All About TV Game Shows Trivia Quiz

Answer: Press Your Luck

"Press Your Luck" involved contestants taking turns pressing their button to stop a ring of lights on a prize, money, or a whammy. The whammy was a cartoon character which symbolically took someone's money and prizes away. If someone landed on four whammies, that person lost the game.

A short cartoon was shown each time a contestant landed on a whammy. One cartoon showed the whammy dressed as Boy George singing "Who would ever hurt a whammy?" before the whammy was hit by a large hammer.

Answer: Win, Lose, or Draw

Bert Convy hosted at least three game shows involving celebrities. In "Win, Lose, or Draw", celebrities took turns trying to get a contestant to say something by drawing pictures, or the contestant would try to get the celebrity to say something by drawing pictures. The daytime network show was hosted by Vicki Lawrence.

Answer: Each losing celebrity gave a check to the contestant

Each part of the show involved someone who had the same name as a famous celebrity, or a well known object. For example, if someone's name was Rock Hudson, each of three celebrities took turns asking questions, such as "Is he in the movies?" The celebrity who guessed the name kept his or her money, but the others who did not guess had to give the contestant a check for $25.

Answer: The New Price Is Right

There had been a half hour show beginning in the 1950s called "The Price Is Right". In the 1970s a show began called "The New Price Is Right" which, similar to "Let's Make a Deal", involved contestants from the audience playing different games to win prizes.

When a special week of hour-long episodes was made, three contestants spun an upright small wheel to land on numbers to try to add up to close to 100 without going over. When this became a feature in the permanent hour show, a much larger wheel was used, so no one could see what numbers were on the other side.

Answer: Give the same answer to a question

Beginning in the 1960s, at various times "The Newlywed Game" involved couples who were married less than two years. The men were asked a set of questions, for example, "What is the color of your wife's eyes?" The women were brought out and answered the same questions. If the husband and wife each gave the same answer, they would win points. Later, it was the women who went first and then the husbands gave their answers.

The couple with the most points won a prize.

Answer: The audience

Like "The Newlywed Game" this involved couples who tried to match the same answer. In this case it was three couples with a husband or wife or both being a celebrity. Some of the couples were not married, and some had been married several years. For example, a question might ask, "If your wife heard someone say something bad about her in a public restroom, would she confront the person or say nothing?" Each couple's section got money for each matching answer. If one section had more money, they got an extra $1000. If it were a tie, the sections split the thousand dollars.

Answer: Three thousand dollars

"Celebrity Name Game" involved two pairs of contestants playing guessing games with two celebrities. In round one a celebrity gave clues to a famous name, and each contestant tried to guess who the celebrity was talking about. The pair of contestants got $100 for each correct answer.

In round two they got $200 for each correct answer. In round three, one contestant from each pair hit the buzzer to guess who the host was talking about. If the contestant was wrong, the other person got the money.

The first pair to make it to $3000 or more played the fourth round to try to win $20,000 if they guessed all ten items.

Answer: Rhyme and Reason

Nipsey Russell (Sep 15, 1918 - Oct 2, 2005) made appearances on various game shows in the 1970s, including "Pyramid" and "Match Game". Someone decided to do a show which was basically the same thing as "Match Game" except that the contestant filled in the blank with a rhyming word that completed a rhyming poem.

They won points if celebrities gave the same answer. Nipsey Russell was famous for making up funny little rhymes that he said on television, so he was the resident regular celebrity of "Rhyme and Reason" (July 7, 1975 - July 9, 1976).

Answer: The Wizard of Odds

Alex Trebek hosted all four game shows at various times, but the Canadian's first American game show was "The Wizard of Odds" in which contestants answered statistical questions. The theme song was sung by producer Alan Thicke, also a Canadian. (Who's the man with the money, makes a dark day sunny.) It was replaced by "High Rollers", also hosted by Alex Trebek.

Answer: Get cards that added up to 21 three times

"Catch 21" was based on blackjack. Each of three contestants got a card when he or she gave a correct answer. The contestant tried to get 21 or close to 21 without going over, or the contestant could pass a card to another contestant, hoping to make that person go over 21 to bust and lose that round.

The last person not busting, or the first person to hit 21 won that round. Each contestant was given 100 points for a correct answer and 500 points for winning the round. The two contestants with more points played round three.

The winner of round three played the bonus round. Getting 21 once gave $1000. Getting 21 twice gave $5000. Getting 21 three times gave $25,000. However, if they risked continuing and got over 21, they lost the bonus money.